Aziridination of alkenes promoted by iron or ruthenium complexes

Molecules containing an aziridine functional group are a versatile class of organic synthons due to the presence of a strained three member, which can be easily involved in ring-opening reactions and the aziridine functionality often show interesting pharmaceutical and/or biological behaviours. For these reasons, the scientific community is constantly interested in developing efficient procedures to introduce an aziridine moiety into organic skeletons and the one-pot reaction of an alkene double bond with a nitrene [NR] source is a powerful synthetic strategy.Herein we describe the catalytic activity of iron or ruthenium complexes in promoting the reaction stated above by stressing the potential and limits of each synthetic protocol.